Kokanat-la Munjya

A popular folk story from the interiors of the Konkan coast has made its way to a popular Bollywood horror franchise Writer Niren Bhatt and directorwriter Amar Kaushik who made Stree 2 and Bhediya decided to fashion a folklore into a classic horror comedymdasha medium they ace And thus Munjya came into beingIn the teaser this week the makers introduced the first CGI actor of India named MunjyaBhatt tells us that the story first came into their lives because of Yogesh Chandekar who brought to the production house Maddock Films a legend from his part of the world ldquoIn a manrsquos life there are traditionally considered to be four stages Brahmacharya student Grihastha householder Vanaprastha retirement originally involving leaving the city to live in a forest and Sannyasa renunciation The Upanayan or Thread Ceremony known as Munja in Marathi marks the initiation of a child into the student phase Sod Munja is another ceremony usually performed as part of marriage rituals signifying the end of the student phase and the beginning of the Grihastha phase If a man dies unmarried after his munja has been performed but before his Sod Munja he becomes a Munjya A spirit who resides in peepal trees or near wells The Marathi expression lsquoBaaraa pimpla varcha munjyarsquo refers to someone with a restless spirit akin to moving from one peepal tree to anotherrdquo Bhatt explainsNiren Bhatt cowriter right Amar Kaushik scriptwriterA practical explanation for this belief is that peepal trees with their large canopies release significant amounts of carbon dioxide after dark The fear of munjya likely discouraged people from sitting under them after sunset But wherersquos the mystery and lore in sciences or logicBhatt and Kaushik developed the story over three years and for research visited several wadas and orchards around Dapoli and Ganpatipule where Munjas have been lsquotied downrsquo ldquoEveryone has a munjya story but has never actually met a munjyardquo Bhatt explains ldquoKissi ke sarr pe baith gaya kissi ko pathar se maara A ceremony is conducted to control the bal rakshas He is a monster but a child because he died young He bothers people to fulfill his desires and usually wants to get married Munjyas arenrsquot typically malicious just juvenile petty nuisance They really seem to like pelting stones at those standing underneath treesrdquoIn their story the munjya somehow breaks free of the peepal tree and wreaks havocAt this point Kaushik who was in a shoot steps in We ask whether three years of reading and researching ghosts and spirits plays on their mind ldquoSometimesrdquo Kaushik says ldquoduring the writing process we wondered whether munjya visited in our dreams Our films are made out of our nightmares whenever we are writing we are perpetually scared If someone overhears conversations from the writersrsquo rooms theyrsquoll think wersquore tantrics A lot of it we carry home and it does play on our minds because Niren reads some 10 books We then dissect and go watch YouTube videos on real stories of such incidents By the end of it we have a mix of bizarre boring and cinematic The funny stories however come from the locals when we go on recce Most of it is not written anywhere What we forget is that when it comes to ghosts everyone has a story and it is not scary in itself but in how it is told Sometimes at the end of a long writing session we go through our own material and wonder What on earth are we writing But lsquomore outrageous more hilariousrsquo has worked for usrdquoSuch haunting folklore from varied subcultures is new to mainstream movies After the success of Kantara last year there is an increased emphasis on finding tales grandmothers narrated Of kings and demons and spiritual connection between humans and spirits ldquoIf you see the movies we have worked onrdquo Bhatt says ldquothey also tell the tale of the milieu Stree is from Chanderi there are over 42 archaeological sites in the vicinity So her legend is born out of that world The architecture the heartland tropes all indicate why such a tale would have come about It is steeped in history Similarly Bhediya is from the jungles of North East Local beliefs and ideas get woven into the film In Munjya too there is an attempt to weave in the subculture of the Konkan belt their fears and beliefs make up the composite of the story we have written The sea is a big part of the belief systemrdquoThis affinity to tell a story authentically pushed Kaushik to pass the directorrsquos baton to Aditya Sarpotdar best known for his Marathi horror flick Zombivili ldquoYou canrsquot make good films if you accept baggagerdquo Kaushik says ldquoThere is no pressure to make you laugh There is no pressure to send a messageWe wanted to bring back nani ki kahaniyan To remain as pure in storytelling Itrsquos about the story and the characters the world and in the end it should be entertaining Pressure of any kind brings competition and the minute you compete in any way you stop being you You are no longer unique The beauty of this world and all the horror comedies we tell and want to tell is that they have to be unique We look for why this legend first appeared and what makes it so popular Legends tell you everything you have to know about the people and that society The ghost spirit monster is also a character We treat it with much empathy Whatrsquos his backstory Who was he in human form What was his state of mind when he died What are his unfulfilled desiresrdquoWill Munjya and Stree have an Avengerslike reunion in the near future ldquoIf a film works it has the legs to be moremdasha sequel a spinoff a multiverse We didnrsquot write Munjya as the male equivalent of Stree We didnrsquot write Bhediya with the potential to cross wires with Stree either But itrsquos a good thing that there are cross connections The possibilities are endlessrdquo says Kaushik